Make an Italian risotto (in just 30 minutes) inspired by the flavors of fall including pumpkin and sage. This dish is perfect for fall dinners or even as a vegetarian-friendly Thanksgiving dish.

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After going to culinary school in Italy, risotto has become one of my favorite dishes to make! It's not only a fancy dish that can impress guests at a dinner party. But, it's also a relatively simple dish to make in under 30 minutes.
While I love the classic parmesan risotto, this version is great for the fall season. I even make this as a vegetarian-friendly main course for Thanksgiving dinner.
I'll walk you through all of the tips and tricks that I learned in culinary school, so you too can learn how to master risotto at home.
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What You'll Learn In This Recipe
- The special ingredients you'll need to make risotto.
- How to ensure your risotto has amazing flavor.
- Why Italians often use a different kind of rice for risotto.
Want to keep learning how to make the best, authentic Italian food? Grab my eBook with 10 of my favorite Italian recipes.
Ingredients You Need
Italians value using high-quality, in-season ingredients. Do your best to find products like these, and you'll end up with the most delicious pumpkin sage risotto.
- Vegetable stock: This ingredient helps cook the rice. You can either make your own vegetable stock or buy one that has a delicious flavor.
- Unsalted butter: This ingredient is used to toast the rice and it's also folded in at the end to add great taste and texture to the risotto.
- Sage: Opt for fresh sage leaves to incorporate the best flavor into the dish.
- Arborio rice: You'll need a special type of rice to make risotto. In culinary school, we were taught to use carnaroli or vialone nano rice since it can withstand a longer serving time without seizing up. However, this type of rice can be hard to find, so I opt for arborio.
- Dry white wine: When cooking with wine, always use a good bottle of wine that you would want to drink. I often use Pinot Grigio.
- Canned pumpkin: Double check that you're purchasing pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Parmesan cheese: It's best to buy high-quality parmesan cheese for this recipe since it's the main flavoring ingredient. Always shred the cheese by hand so it melts better (pre-shredded cheese has an anti-caking agent that prevents it from melting well).
- Morton kosher salt/Black pepper: It's really important to properly season the rice if you want the best flavor. Rice by itself is fairly bland, but adding salt and pepper will help to enhance all of the other flavors in the dish.
How To Make This Recipe
I've got a few tips and tricks I learned in culinary school to make the best authentic Italian risotto. Let's walk through how to make pumpkin sage risotto so I can show you!
1. First, heat the stock until it's steaming. You want very hot stock to mix with the rice otherwise you risk the risotto turning gummy.
2. Next, chop 4 tablespoons (56 grams) of butter into small, ยผ inch (ยฝ cm) pieces and place them in the freezer. This is a unique trick that we learned in culinary school. This butter will be used to finish the dish.
3. Melt the remaining butter in the saucepan, add the sage, then toast the rice. You're looking for the rice to transform from white/opaque to translucent. This step seals the split in the rice to ensure too much starch doesn't release.
At this point, it's very important not to brown the rice. If you see rice turning a golden brown color, lower the heat immediately.
4. Add white wine and cook until the rice has absorbed all the wine.
5. Add in pumpkin and stir until it's combined with the rice.
Next, ladle ยพ cup (175 ml) of hot stock into the large saucepan, just until the rice is covered. Once you reach this step, you'll want to set a timer for 16 minutes. This is about how much time it takes to perfectly cook the rice.
6. Once the rice has absorbed about half of the stock, add another ยฝ cup (120 ml) ladle of hot stock.
7. Continue this process until the rice is tender, but still has a bite to it. Once it's ready, the rice will still look a little soupy.
8. Remove the risotto from the heat and add the frozen butter to the rice.
9. Finally, season with parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.
10. In Italy, they plate the risotto in a very specific way. We were taught in school to ladle the risotto on a plate and tap the bottom of the plate to spread the risotto into a thin layer. I always love finishing the plate with some additional parmesan cheese and sage leaves.
Expert Tips
- It's best to serve the risotto right after it has finished cooking. You don't want risotto to sit for too long, otherwise it will start to firm up.
- In culinary school, we learned not to use arborio rice because it has a big slit in the middle of the rice which causes starch to release more easily. If you live near an Italian market, see if you can find carnaroli or vialone nano rice. You'll use the exact same amount of these types of rice instead of the arborio.
- Making this dish for a dinner party? I usually estimate about 70 grams of rice per person if you're serving it as the main course or 40 - 60 grams of rice if it's a side dish.
Recipe FAQs
Once fully and properly cooked, the rice should still have a nice bite to it. Italians do not like to eat mushy, overcooked rice.
No! Do not wash the rice before cooking the risotto. This will rinse all of the good starch off of the rice.
Adding in the broth a little at a time helps the rice to slowly absorb the liquid and the flavor. This is what helps create a creamy and delicious risotto.
I would not, as the flavor will not be as prominent in the final dish.
More Risotto Recipes
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Pumpkin Sage Risotto
Equipment
- saucepan
Ingredients
- 32 ounces vegetable stock
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
- 3 - 5 large fresh sage leaves
- 1 ยฝ cups arborio rice
- ยพ cup dry white wine
- 15 ounces canned pure pumpkin
- 1 cup plus more for garnish finely shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 ยผ teaspoon Morton kosher salt
- โ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat vegetable stock in a medium saucepan over medium high heat until itโs steaming.
- Roughly chop 4 tablespoons (56 grams) of butter into small, ยผ inch (ยฝ cm) pieces and place in the freezer.
- Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons (28 grams) butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add sage leaves and arborio rice to the saucepan and toast the rice until itโs translucent, about 4 - 6 minutes. You donโt want the rice to take on any color, so turn down the heat if you see browning.
- Add white wine and cook until the rice has absorbed all the wine. Add in pumpkin and stir until combined with the rice. Ladle ยพ cup (175 ml) hot stock into the large saucepan, just until the rice is covered. Once the rice has absorbed about half of the stock, add in another ยฝ cup (120 ml) ladle of hot stock. Continue this process until the rice is tender, but still has a bite to it. From the time you add in the first ladle of hot stock, it should take about 16 minutes to fully cook the rice. Once ready, the rice will still look a little soupy.
- Remove the risotto from heat and remove sage leaves. Add the frozen butter to the rice and stir until incorporated. Season with parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. To serve, ladle the risotto on a plate and tap the bottom of the plate to spread the risotto into a thin layer. Optionally, garnish with additional parmesan cheese.
Nate
Really delicious recipe! I love the pumpkin flavor!